Through stories of lustful and incestuous rulers, of republican revolution and of unnatural crimes against family, seventeenth-century Englishmen imagined the problem of tyranny through the prism of classical history. This fuelled debates over the practices of their own kings, the necessity of revolution, and the character of English republican thought. The Rule of Manhood explores the dynamic and complex languages of tyranny and masculinity that arose through these classical stories and their imaginative appropriation. Discerning the neglected connection between concepts of power and masculinity in early Stuart England, Jamie A. Gianoutsos shows both how stories of ancient tyranny were deployed in the dialogue around monarchy and rule between 1603 and 1660 and the extent to which these shaped English classical republican thought. Drawing on extensive research in contemporary printed texts, Gianoutsos persuasively weaves together the histories of politics and manhood to make a bold claim: that the fundamental purpose of English republicanism was not liberty or virtue, but the realisation of manhood for its citizens.

Co-winner, István Hont Book Prize 2020, Institute of Intellectual History

‘This ambitious and engaging book offers a salutary reminder of how English culture, at least as absorbed by boys with grammar-school educations, was steeped in classical history.’

Ann Hughes Source: The Journal of Interdisciplinary History

‘Gianoutsos offers perceptive rereadings of key republican thinkers, and by placing gender at the core of analysis makes important interventions in long-standing debates among historians of republican thought.’

Alastair Bellany Source: American Historical Review

‘This is an ambitious and ground-breaking book, carefully argued and built on a lot of fresh evidence. In linking the English Revolution with masculinism, Gianoutsos makes it into a deeply conservative, reactive phenomenon.’

David Norbrook Source: Global Intellectual History

‘The elegance of Gianoutsos’s study is to reveal how much extant evidence there is that gender was at the center of this political conflict. … [an] impressively researched book…’

Emelye Keyser Source: Renaissance Quarterly

‘… a welcome and timely contribution to our understanding of the intellectual and cultural origins of English republicanism.’

Gregory Chaplin Source: JBS Review